The Horizon School DIvision held the grand opening of their new office building in November. (Aaron Schulze/northeastNOW Staff)

By Cam Lee

Horizon School Division

New central office one of many highlights for Horizon School Division in 2019

Dec 23, 2019 | 5:00 PM

A number of changes highlighted the year that was for the Horizon School Division.

The year began with the office staff moving into their new home on Eighth Ave. in Humboldt in January. Prior to the move, half of the division staff were in a rented space in the Olymel building, while the other half were in a quonset building across the city. The grand opening of the facility was held in November.

Director of Education, Kevin Garinger told northeastNOW that the new building is much more efficient. He said a staff member told him that what used to take half a day to co-ordinate took 10 minutes because now she could just walk across the hallway instead of drive across the city.

The division is also saving money by not having to rent space anymore. The new, large facility is also able to host provincial meetings and other events.

“We continue to be extremely grateful to have this space and it’s really shown how incredible it is when we hosted recently our Christmas Hamper Project that allowed us to provide gifts and other necessities to 403 children and 153 families from across Horizon.”

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Garinger said positive growth and change came from the students.

“We have seen some record…growth in terms of our student reading and writing results, as well…our Safe and Caring results are at an all-time high,” said Garinger. “Some really impressive things that have been happening across our system that we just continue to see growth and that’s what it’s all about.”

Enrolment declined by about 100 students in the 2019-2020 school year. Garinger said that has been a challenge but the staff have worked hard to ensure there’s no impact on the other 6400 students in the division.

He said the continual growth in the reading, writing, and Safe and Caring results show the students are in good hands.

Another challenge for the division, like others across the province, is working with the funding they receive from the provincial government. Garinger said the board does everything they can to ensure the budget challenges don’t affect the students.

“As much as we advocate for being able to have more so we can do more, I think we are also pretty proud of the fact that this board has focused on we’re ensuring that we maintain small class sizes, and put teachers and support staff where necessary in front of children.” said Garinger.

According to the director, the Horizon School Division has the third lowest pupil-to-teacher ratio in the province, behind Île-à-la-Crosse and Conseil des Écoles Fransaskoises.

However, Garinger noted that the division has had to look at their operations and reduce where necessary.

Horizon School Division also played host to the provincial Student Leadership Conference in Watrous in 2019, and Garinger said the division will continue to host events that showcase the students’ talents and sportsmanship in the coming year.

Horizon will also continue to be involved in SaskMATH meetings in 2020, as they develop an online resource for math assessment and instruction for teachers across the province.

Garinger said Horizon signed an education agreement with Daystar First Nation in 2019 and the division is in the final stages of setting up a similar agreement with the George Gordon and Fishing Lake First Nations for the coming year.

The MySchoolSask Information System was implemented in the division in 2019. Horizon was one of 13 school divisions to use the new system. Garinger said they will bring in the parent portal to the system in 2020 once they ensure it’s working effectively.

Provincial and municipal elections are also coming in the fall of 2020, which means Horizon will have a school board election as well.

Garinger said the new board may have many of the same members, but the election of a new board is always an exciting endeavour even though it’s a bonus working with the great people on the board.

He added the board is vital as they provide the governance, support, and direction if necessary for the school division to move forward operationally to meet the needs of students.

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cam.lee@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @camlee1974